As human beings, we are incredibly lucky to live in the era of El Clasico. We mean that in general, as in the entire 100 year history of the event. But in an more relevant and current way, we should be incredibly grateful that we are alive for this current rendition of El Clasico. We’re talking Messi vs Ronaldo, Los Galacticos vs La Masia. It’s a battle of ideals that could have been written in the lore of a fantasy novel rivaling the depth of the Lord of the Rings, it’s all that compelling and unique.
First, lets just get the obvious out of the way. Messi and Ronaldo may very well go down as the greatest players of this century, with Messi making a very good argument for being the greatest player of all time. You can argue those two facts all you want, but every time we will just thrust another record breaking performance, ridiculous rate of production, or a video like this in your face:
This rivalry for the ages gets the added boost of standing on the shoulders of giants. Every time these two legendary clubs meet, they build on traditions established by Di Stefano, Cruyff, Maradona, Romario, Ronaldo Lima, Zinedine Zidane, and Ronaldinho. And you know what? Those legends are starting to pale in comparison.
Our hearts go out to you Ronaldo, but we've moved on. Photo: FourFourTweet | Twitter
Which says a lot, because for those of you that don’t know, some pretty crazy s*** has already happened in the history of this epic rivalry. This subject is worthy of it’s own article, but to just give you an idea of what you’re dealing with here, Luis Figo had a freakin’ pigs head thrown at him during a game. Why? Because he swapped Barcelona for Real Madrid, and Barcelona’s fans were just that mad.
Honestly, who throws a pig? Photo: greymind43 | Twitter
Even in the face of that insanity, the recent contributions of these two teams has been nothing short of extraordinary. We have seen the 6-2 destruction of Madrid, a game in which Pep Guardiola arguably invented the false-9, and in which Xavi had 4 assists. 4! Then there was Jose Mourinho’s inaugural El Clasico in charge of Madrid, which saw his side get destroyed by 5-0, and led to Barca’s performance being hailed as the greatest performance by a team of all time. The hype around Barca reached such a level that by the time Ronaldo scored a goal and told the Camp Nou to calm down, he might as well have been telling tweenage girls to get over their One Direction obsessions.
Did dis dude jus did dis? Photo: joshmall81 | Twitter
Sunday’s El Clasico could have made a case for being the best of all time through shear star power alone. You have BBC vs Neymar, Suarez, and Messi. There’s Xabi and Iniesta squaring off against Modric and Kroos. The Spanish Stalwarts of Pique and Ramos. And that’s just the names, just wait until you actually find out who these guys are.
OH YEAH!!! Photo: neymar11101jr1 | Twitter
There’s the happy-go-lucky Neymar. With 34 million followers between Instagram and Twitter, he might just be the most popular footballer on the planet. And his skills back up every single word he drops on social media.
— Neymar Jr (@neymarjr) March 20, 2015
There’s Gareth Bale. With all apologies to Aaron Ramsey, he’s the real Welsh Jesus. In a generation of English footballing mediocrity, Scottish and Irish insignificance, and Welsh…whatever, he is the last great hope of U.K. soccer that screams, “WE CAN STILL PRODUCE A SUPERSTAR.” We should add that the man is as polarizing as a magnet in a smelting plant. He goes through a bad patch of form, and is protected with unconditional love by those who saw him dominate the Premier League. He scores goals we only dream of, and still gets crucified in Spain.
And then there’s the guy that is just as famous for being good at soccer as he is for literally biting people: Luis Suarez. He is a ball of unbridled passion on the pitch. A ball that somehow absorbed world-class skill, and that is now demolishing any defender he has in his sights.
To this day, we have never seen anyone but Suarez hold their teeth in such a way. Photo: TeleFootball | Twitter
The last time these two teams met, Real Madrid was in the middle of a 22 game, hotter-than-your-little-sister-thinking-about-Ronaldo-shirtless winning streak. They won 3-1, and at the time the game might as well have signaled a shift in power of galactic proportions; everyone was either crowning Madrid the Kings of the World or condemning Barcelona to dated decrepitude. After just one game! But those are the stakes of El Clasico.
"God...not this s*** again." Photo: GOAL_ID | Twitter
And now? My, how things have changed. Messi has established himself as the greatest player in the world again. Barcelona are in the finest form they have ever been in since, dare we say, the Guardiola days. Madrid are trying to find themselves in the midst of their worst spell of the year, yet they are still Real “We have f***ing Ronaldo” Madrid, and they sit only one point behind Barcelona in La Liga.
Photo: espnfc
This game will define the year for both teams. If Barcelona wins, it could very well launch them to a 2nd treble in 5 years. If Real wins, they will become the favorites to win La Liga, and will become the de facto favorite in the Champions League.
Photo: RonaldoStats | Twitter
We simply have the pleasure of watching the two best teams in the world, outfitted with the two best players of this century, play a game that lives in and builds on the greatest footballing tradition on the planet. There is simply no other competition like it. This is the kind of event that makes you realize that El Clasico is not a game, it is the moment of a lifetime. To be a spectator is to experience the pinnacle of humanity in 2015.
All this hype, all these players, all this win, and you can watch it all on Sunday 4 p.m. EST. When you tune in, know that you aren’t just watching El Clasico, you are watching the greatest game ever played.
